I HATE irony
by Thiing1
Summary: Something happens on the way to school that may change Harima's perspective forever! But what is Tenma's take on this? I HATE IRONY! (I don't own School Rumble, if I did, the anime would not have ended so soon, but it did, so I don't.)
1. Nurse Mikoto

It was a beautiful and crisp morning. The birds were chirping... The sun was just barely peeking out from behind the mountains in the distance... And Kenji Harima had been in yet ANOTHER street fight before school.

Harima started walking to school, leaving behind the idiots that thought they could take him laying there. As he was walking Miss Suou pretty much APPEARED next to Harima causing him to start. She smirked in a quirky way when she noticed this. He sighed. "What do you want Miss Suou?"

"What makes you think I want anything?" She crossed her arms defensively.

"Because I can't come up with any other reason why you would talk to me." He replied, and although he said this as nonchalantly as he could, anyone could see that it hurt. Mikoto was surprised at this, and she voiced it saying quite firmly, "You forget, MR. HARIMA, that we don't HAVE to associate ourselves with you, we CHOOSE to. And I'm walking to school with you as a CHOICE. Take it, or leave it."

Harima was silent for a while as he studied Mikoto's face, as though trying to find reason to not believe what she had just plainly stated. Then, after finding none, he sighed heavily, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and jerked his head to indicate which way they should be heading.

After some time walking in silence Mikoto couldn't stand it anymore. Turning to look at Harima she noticed he looked scarier today than he normally did. And was that dirt on his shirt? How did he get so scruffed up? She studied his face, but it gave away nothing. '_He was probably in another fight_,' she thought. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her handkerchief to wipe off the dirt and scrapes on his face. When her gentle hand first touched his face, he stiffened. '_What was he expecting?_' Mikoto asked herself bitterly, '_ Did he think I was going to hit him?_' She looked up at his face and saw the intensity of his stare was more than the usual, and decided better than to push him on it. If looks could kill, he would be the last person alive. '_I'm glad he's not mad at ME, but who is he mad at?_'

"Rough day?" She asked quietly as she gently cleaned his face, in hopes of making him look more presentable at school AND to get more information as to why Harima-kun had been so PLEASANT as of late.

"S'pose you could say that," he mumbled just as quietly tilting his chin up so Mikoto could clean the scrape on his jawline with her handkerchief. "More like.. I've been doing some thinking," he mumbled more absently.

"Hmmm? Really? What about?" '_This could get interesting_,' she thought, and that she smiled victoriously as she managed to get a piece of stone out of a scrape on that went from about an inch from Harima's beard to just below his temple. He winced as she did so. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tenma running towards her and Harima. Oh boy, this was going to be a pain to explain to Tenma later, but right now she needed to help Harima. Not only with this problem he seemed to be having, but also with all the scrapes and bruises. The one that went up the ridge of his nose looked like it REALLY had hurt. She reached towards him.

Whether Harima would have confided in Mikoto or not, we will never know, because the next thing that Mikoto did changed EVERYTHING.

She removed his sunglasses.


	2. The Eyes Tell All

Harima squeezed his eyes shut tightly, hoping that somehow that would help hide his face from Tenma. Even if it DID, it didn't help with the aching pain from the scrape on his nose. Mikoto managed to clean it to the best of her ability, but she was limited now that Harima looked he had a stick up his butt. _'What's the matter with him anyway?'_ MIkoto asked herself.

Seconds ticked by as Mikoto wiped the blood away from his eyes and the bridge of his nose. Harima continued to panic. Mikoto had somewhat finished. If Harima didn't look like he was constipated right now then she might've been able to clean around his eyes better. She sighed and just did her best while hoping that Harima would calm down eventually.

Harima's heart was beating out of his chest. '_Or at least it WOULD be if this was some stupid manga,'_ he thought bitterly. He just wished he would have a heart attack right now and save himself some trouble. But of course, he didn't. He slowly began to relax as he felt Mikoto's fingers gently and deftly clean his skin with her handkerchief. He could tell she was slightly irate about him keeping his eyes squeezed too tightly, and if Tenma were to scream she would've done it already right? _'Right,'_ he nodded, mostly to convince himself that he was right, and opened his eyes to allow Mikoto free access. Mikoto smiled, thanking him silently. However, the silence never lasts long while Harima is involved does it?

Tenma's brain hurt. She knew Harima looked like SOMEBODY, but she just couldn't place her finger on it. She groaned, _'Thinking this much hurts my brain.'_ And then it happened. The thing that changed all things, the last puzzle piece fit right into place when Harima opened his eyes.

"PERVERT!" Tenma screamed at the top of her lungs.

* * *

_**I know it's short, but I am busy with other things. Still, I promise future chapters will be better... **_


	3. Run, Harima, Run

Harima felt a wave of relief as he heard no screams as he slowly, carefully opened his eyes. For a while, everything was fine. Quiet, but fine. All of a sudden as Mikoto was cleaning the cut on his nose, he watched as Tenma's eyes got bigger, and her mouth opened slightly in the way of preparing for a scream. Harima wanted to do something, ANYTHING to stop it, but it was as if he was rooted to the spot watching everything unfold in slow motion.

As Tenma's eyes slowly get bigger and bigger in recognition, he felt panic flood him like the tidal waves that are so common in japan. He immediately crashed the lids of his eyes shut, and tried to get back his glasses as he heard Tenma's frantic scream of, "PERVERT!" Getting back his glasses wasn't the easiest task since his eyes were closed, so after some failed attempts he finally opened his eyes, grabbed his sunglasses from a very startled Mikoto, turned tail and RAN.

To the human eye, what happened was done in under a minute, but to Harima, as he ran as fast as he could, feeling the shock-waves go through his feet and legs with each pounding step, it felt like a lifetime had socked him in the gut.

Tenma watched as Harima turned and ran. She knew that she recognized him from somewhere, but it took a while for it to sink in. 'Why did he run away? Is he ashamed?' She thought confusedly. She pondered on this for a while. Finally, she came to her own conclusion. 'Well, he should be.' Tenma huffed in annoyance and glared at the receding back of Harima Kenji. Soon, he was too far to see anything but a silhouette.

Tenma thought back to her hasty and shocked reaction. Did she regret it? NO. NEVER. Still.. seeing Harima's quick and shocking reaction had left its mark, and somehow she found herself chasing that wolf.


	4. TENMA VS KENJI

**The next day**

Tenma sighed to herself as she walked through the halls of her school, replaying what had happened yesterday over and over in her mind. She never did find Harima, but knowing him, he probably went home. She couldn't remember how to get to his house now, curse this stupid memory of hers! If she had a better long-term memory, then she wouldn't be STUCK in this mess. Her feet felt like led as she trudged into homeroom.

. . .

Harima's feet felt like led as he trudged into homeroom. He was in a bad mood after thinking about what happened all last night. Add sleep deprivation on top of all that, and you have a perfect mixture of an 'stay-the-heck-away-from-me' aura. And stay away from him people did. Even Hanai sat a little further away than normal.

_'I've been nothing but nice to this girl,'_ thought Harima bitterly,_ 'and she still doesn't see that I am not the pervert she thinks I am? I thought we had got past that!'_ He grumbled as he took a seat at a desk that was FAR from Tenma's. He didn't want to even look at Tenma today, even if it meant he had to bully one poor, unsuspecting soul out of their seat.

. . .

Tenma walked into the classroom slowly and unsure of herself. When she saw Harima positioned the at the seat furthest her, she felt a pain in her gut. Why did Harima react so badly to her finding out? Even Karasuma couldn't distract her today. She felt shocked at this thought even as it traveled through her small brain. '_This must be his plan,'_ she thought to herself, suspicious of Harima's actions, _'WELL! Two can play that game Kenji!'_

**TENMA VS. KENJI**

**BEGIN!**


	5. Forbidden Ground

Over the span of the next few weeks Tenma played this "game". The game included not talking to each other, staying as far away from each other as possible, and if the other came up in a conversation, changing the subject. In all technicality, they pretended each other didn't exist.

And this game would have continued on forever if not for a freak accident you could only find in manga. Harima was walking peacefully along... after a successful fight with the school bully. He walked by himself, but he walked serenely, that is until someone came crashing into him at a full fledged run and knocked him clean on his back.

Harima gritted his teeth in pain. Whoever this was was going to get the same treatment he gave Tennoji! Then he heard a small, whiny, "Ouch.." Harima froze. TENMA.

. . .

_'Oh crap, oh crap, oh CRAP!'_ Harima thought wildly. _'What do I do? What do I do?!'_ He felt like his face was going to melt and his lungs were going to burst. He was almost in full freak-out. Yet, somehow he calmed himself, realizing Tenma was yet to open her eyes, and see who she crashed into._ 'Be cool, okay.. be cool..' _

"Walk much?" Harima asked, with only a little malice. Tenma's eyes shot open and widened as she saw that she had run into the very person she had been trying to avoid this whole time. She felt panic rise up inside her, but slowly, ever so slowly, panic was replaced by anger and, if she was being honest, a little awe. Harima's glasses and hairband had fallen off, making him VERY handsome. However, she was angry that it took her running into him to make him talk to her. And she let him know it.

"WHAT THE HECK HARIMA?!" She screamed. She rarely yelled at people, let alone SCREAMED at someone, and it made her feel invincable. "IT TOOK ME ALMOST RUNNING YOU OVER JUST TO ACKNOWLEGE THAT I EXIST?!" Harima flinched, and for once decided to take the high road.

"Tenma, I'm sorry," he began, but he was cut off by Tenma.

"I WAS FRIENDS WITH YOU FOR ABOUT TWO YEARS NOW! DON'T YOU THINK THAT THAT INFORMATION WAS IMPORTANT TO ME?!"

High road.. crumbling... Countdown initiated.

**5, 4..**

"SERIOUSLY! DON'T YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT ANYONE BUT YOURSELF?"

**3, 2...**

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU HARIMA KENJI!"

**1****.**

Finally, Harima burst. And he burst loudly. "GO AHEAD AND HATE ME THEN!" he screamed back, "I DON'T EVEN CARE ANYMORE! WHY CAN'T YOU GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL THAT WHAT HAPPENED THAT DAY WAS A MISUNDERSTANDING?!" Once the words started, they just kept on coming, as if Harima had finally opened a dam that had long been building up. "CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I WAS NICE TO YOU? THAT I AM NOT AN 'APE'? COULDN'T YOU SEE THAT I LIKED YOU? HONESTLY, PURELY LIKED YOU? OR ARE YOU JUST SO DENSE..." He trailed off, realizing that more had come out of his mouth then what was originally intended. The battlegrounds had changed. Grounds that many didn't come back from unscathed.

Harima was on forbidden ground.


	6. Do You Want To Talk About It?

_'CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I LIKE YOU?' _

That one line played over and over again in Tenma's head. _'Harima LIKES me? Like, LIKE likes me?'_ Still, she wasn't as shocked as she thought she would be. Maybe she knew all along..

Harima's head was down, and a shadow casted itself over his eyes. Both teenagers had been silent for a while now, just staring at their feet as if they were the most interesting things in the world. Tenma was just about to say something, ANYTHING to break the silence when she heard Harima speak.

"I DID like you. I LOVED you," Harima spoke down into his chest, "But you have just hurt me so much that its painful to like you that way anymore," Harima looked up, and Tenma gasped to see tears in the eyes of the school's most famed delinquent. "I can't stand it anymore. I know this doesn't mean much to you, but it means the world to me when I say, 'I can't do this anymore', because it means I'm giving up. I giving up on you Tenma. I can't expect you to be someone you aren't, and I won't expect that of you." With that said Harima turned and walked away, leaving a bewildered Tenma.

Harima walked down a well built street. Where he was, he didn't know. He had just walked away and kept walking. He probably would have continued walking all the way to America if not for a small voice calling his name. The voice wasn't Tenma's so he turned to see who would want to talk to HIM the delinquent, the PERVERT.

The voice belonged to Sawachika. Rich girl. HE sighed and turned away from her bracing himself for the worse. His pride was already hurt enough today, why did Rich Girl have to come along? She was just going to wound his pride worse.

Out of everything that Harima was expecting Eri to say, the one he least expected was:

"Do you want to talk about it?"

. . .

Tenma thought about what Kenji had said over the weekend. She started to feel more and more guilty as she did so, realizing how many times she must have caused him pain. She kept on thinking back to Harima's face. He had looked so vulnerable at the moment it seemed that a stray breeze could have knocked him over. She remembered the tears that he had tried so had to conceal spilling over in his eyes. She saw a side of Kenji that she had never seen before. And it was nice..


	7. I HATE Irony

**About a month later**

Tenma finally got it! Tenma understood her feelings now! It started when she realized she was calling Harima by his first name. Then she talked to him simply because she wanted to. Next, was when she called Harima up just to chat. Another thing that clued her in was that when he was feeling down, her inconceivable want and NEED to be there and comfort him. Soon, this lead to her just simply wanting to be around him.

Still, Tenma is a bit of a stupid girl, so she would not have been clued in by simple things such as that. The last thing that cinched that she held feelings for Harima Kenji was the jealousy. Jealousy when he looked at another girl. Jealousy when he went somewhere without her. Jealousy when he had new friends that she didn't, especially if that friend was a girl.

Jealousy when he started dating Eri Sawachika.

That's right! Harima started dating Eri. Tenma had overheard that it all started when Eri was the one to comfort Harima after that big spat they had had. It didn't take much to put two and two together and find out that Eri had liked Harima from the beginning, and finally Kenji figured it out too. Sure, it took him a while, but Harima is also a bit stupid, and he knew it. Now the two have been dating for about a week and are as happy as ever. Tenma got to watch from the sidelines.

No more sideways glances. No more blushing when she did something really cute or arrived at his house unannounced. No more saying, "We are JUST FRIENDS," because everyone knew it to be true. No more liking her, no, no more LOVING her... He really and truly did give up. Tenma was saddened by this very much so when Harima and Eri walked into the class beaming with pride and announced that they were engaged Tenma's heart broke a little.

As she watched the perfect couple tease and flirt openly with each other only one thought passed through her mind.

_'I HATE irony.'_


End file.
